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Written by Citizen Staff
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 |
Instructor Jarvis Thompson presents Pippin Mattson with a gold medal for the junior division of a karate tournament held on the weekend at the Connaught Youth Centre. A total of 38 athletes, including 21 from Dawson Creek, took part in the event run by Prince George Kyokushin Karate School. (David Mah photo)
At 11 years old, Madison Landry is already working on her green belt in karate.
That’s halfway to black-belt status in the Kyokushin style, after just three years of studying her martial art. Her steady progress paid off in a gold medal for Landry over the weekend, where she won the 9-11-year-old division at an Prince George Kyokushin Karate School interclub tournament at the Connaught Youth Centre.
“Madison is a very technical student who has great technique and she’ll be a very promising black belt one day,” said Jarvis Thompson, her coach and dojo director of the P.G. Kyokushin Karate School. “She has such a desire to do well. I don’t see that very often in kids her age.”
Dillon Fortier of Dawson Creek placed second and Brodie Smith of Prince George was third in the 9-11-year-old class.
Twelve-year-old Pippin Mattson of Prince George, now in his fourth season of karate, captured the 12-13-year-old division in his first tournament experience.
“He had an awesome day,” said Thompson. “He didn’t stop at any time. He was in one match where it seemed like he maybe not going to win it, but he kept going and got stronger and ended up winning the match, and he won the final one as well.”
Cody Fontana, 11, and Samantha Klassen, 13, both of Dawson Creek, were second and third respectively in the 12-13-year-old class.
Dexter Keith and Keeran Green of Dawson Creek finished 1-2 respectively in the eight-year-old division, while Jessica Nycholat of Prince George was third.
A total of 38 competitors took part in the one-day tournament. Thompson, who moved to Prince George from Dawson Creek in 2004, plans to travel there with his athletes for a spring tournament.
“The tournament was all for the kids to develop their skills and get them to meet people outside of their own karate school,” said Thompson. “We’ll try to make this an annual event every fall.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 December 2008 )
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